Cricket stumps

A LIGHT-HEARTED cricket website co-launched by a Welwyn man has caught the attention of international stars and gone down a storm on Twitter.

Liam Kenna

The Middle Stump is one of the fastest-growing cricket blogs around, and has so far achieved more than 8,000 web hits since its launch on March 23.

It has gone down well with those players who have so far featured on the site, and in wider cricketing circles.

After starting up a footballing blog as part of his college course, Liam Kenna, who lives in Oaklands, decided with his Hertfordshire Cricket League mate Daniel Whiting to launch a cricket blog.

The aim was to write something away from the usual style explained Liam, who described the site as the “doosra of blogs!”.

Daniel Whiting

He said they were aiming at the “lad culture within cricket”, but with the odd serious piece thrown in as well.

Welshman Liam, a keen footballer, signed for Barnet FC as a youngster.

But after not making it professionally, he has since settled in this area and now works at the QE2 Hospital in health records.

He has always played cricket and knows many Glamorgan players.

The 23-year-old, who now plays for Datchworth Cricket Club, said: “We interviewed ex-England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon, then Glamorgan’s Gareth Rees and things started to take off for us.

“Soon we had Tom Maynard, who looks like he will get in the England team shortly, ask us to do a Q&A, and the site went mad.

“The professionals seem to like it, and they enjoy winding each other up via The Middle Stump.

“They then use Twitter to promote it, the banter flows and our hits on the site go through the roof!

“We’ve had people contact us from all around the world, and while the UK provides the bulk of our readership, we have a burgeoning fanbase in India and Australia.”

Their site, which focuses on both the grassroots side of the game as well as international and county cricket, has already caught the eye of figures in the game, such as respected Sunday Tele-graph cricket journalist Steve James, and ex-England opener Mark Butcher.

The duo have more interviews with players and a cricket-loving MP planned, and they also hope to team up with skin cancer charity Factor 50.

Follow @Themiddlestump on Twitter or click on the link (top right) to visit the website.